Awards ceremony and applause during Mass

[ricko]

I walked out of church during the middle of Mass today. There were medals being given to 50 people that attended a retreat. As each one received his medal there were hugs and patting each other on the back and applause, then there was a standing ovation at the end. This all happened after the reading of the gospel. I had seen this before so I left after the first row received their medals. I know Keating and also the Pope and his number two man in the Vatican does not approve of performances of this nature and I had written this pastor before giving him quotes from the Pope among others. He of course just brushed it off. Dear God, what has happened to the Catholic Church? I feel like I’m in an auditorium rather than a Church. Everybody just does anything they feel like doing without regard to the sanctity of the Church.

 

[buffalo]

I walked out of church during the middle of Mass today. There were medals being given to 50 people that attended a retreat. As each one received his medal there were hugs and patting each other on the back and applause, then there was a standing ovation at the end. This all happened after the reading of the gospel. I had seen this before so I left after the first row received their medals. I know Keating and also the Pope and his number two man in the Vatican does not approve of performances of this nature and I had written this pastor before giving him quotes from the Pope among others. He of course just brushed it off. Dear God, what has happened to the Catholic Church? I feel like I’m in an auditorium rather than a Church. Everybody just does anything they feel like doing without regard to the sanctity of the Church.

This is the scourge of horizontal worship.

 

[jc-servant]

I hope that you took yourself to mass somewhere because leaving after the gospel merely because of an awards presentation that you don’t think is appropriate does not excuse you from your Sunday obligation.

I’ve been at mass when things were so loud and crazy that I could not even hear the gospel, but I know that does not excuse my leaving so I sucked it up and stayed. I don’t walk out on Jesus for anyone.

 

[ricko]

I hope that you took yourself to mass somewhere because leaving after the gospel **merely because of an awards presentation that you don’t think is appropriate **does not excuse you from your Sunday obligation.

I’ve been at mass when things were so loud and crazy that I could not even hear the gospel, but I know that does not excuse my leaving so I sucked it up and stayed. I don’t walk out on Jesus for anyone.

Thank you for your concern. It appears that this type of activity does not concern you as my bold indicates above. I don’t believe “sucking it up” would be the solution here, it implies approval of the activity and things would just get worst. And no, I didn’t walk out on Jesus, I walked out on the Pastor. I also don’t believe that Jesus would approve of such in His house, remember the only time that Jesus got angry? I am not going to suck it up as it is wrong, I was hoping for suggestions as I might write to the Bishop.

 

[NewUlm1976_2000]

I walked out of church during the middle of Mass today. There were medals being given to 50 people that attended a retreat. As each one received his medal there were hugs and patting each other on the back and applause, then there was a standing ovation at the end. This all happened after the reading of the gospel. I had seen this before so I left after the first row received their medals. I know Keating and also the Pope and his number two man in the Vatican does not approve of performances of this nature and I had written this pastor before giving him quotes from the Pope among others. He of course just brushed it off. Dear God, what has happened to the Catholic Church? I feel like I’m in an auditorium rather than a Church. Everybody just does anything they feel like doing without regard to the sanctity of the Church.

You also have to remember that Parishes are social communities in themselves. Healthy parishes are more than just the mass, it is all the social interactions between people. It does not invalidate the mass, but helps people grow spiritually so they can take the lessons of the mass in their lives to the outside world beyond the church building.

 

[Salah]

When it happened where I was I said, ‘It’s not my church; if it bothers God, then, he should do something about it.’ I waited and when no lightening bolt flashed, I went on quietly enjoying the ceremony.

 

[Aramis]

You also have to remember that Parishes are social communities in themselves. Healthy parishes are more than just the mass, it is all the social interactions between people. It does not invalidate the mass, but helps people grow spiritually so they can take the lessons of the mass in their lives to the outside world beyond the church building.

And they have no right to alter the liturgy. It sounds ike the perfect thing to do right after the liturgy, in place of the recessional.

 

[Ruthie]

You have my sympathy. I’m blessed; my priest has been listening to Rome (or to dear Archbishop Chaput) and now does this kind of thing when and where they are appropriate. There is less and less applause at our Masses, thank the dear Lord!

So, you see, there is hope.

You lost me when you said,

Dear God, what has happened to the Catholic Church? I feel like I’m in an auditorium rather than a Church. Everybody just does anything they feel like doing without regard to the sanctity of the Church.

If I were you, I would not say this kind of thing to your Bishop. Just mention that you found the hug-fest and the applause inappropriate, especially at that point in the Mass.

I think my priest is very wise to change things slowly and unobtrusively as he is doing. It gives nobody the chance to either gloat or get in a snit.

God bless you and your efforts,

Ruthie

 

[ricko]

Thanks for all the replies. Before I go further I would like to post a quote from the Pope:

Whenever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. …

Strangely enough, all these problems are coming from the older priests, the young ones conform to Rome. One day at Mass one of these young priests was explaining how one should act in Church. He said, among other things, that applause was not appropriate and that quiet should be observed before and after Mass. Well, I guess I was the only one who listened or everybody did not care and ignored him cause after Mass it sounded like Grand Central Station.

 

[Love_the_Lorax]

Can you tell me where that quote came from? My parish frequently breaks out in applause after Communion - sometimes before the Host is back in the tabernacle!

Thanks for all the replies. Before I go further I would like to post a quote from the Pope:

Whenever applause breaks out in the liturgy because of some human achievement, it is a sure sign that the essence of liturgy has totally disappeared and been replaced by a kind of religious entertainment. …

Strangely enough, all these problems are coming from the older priests, the young ones conform to Rome. One day at Mass one of these young priests was explaining how one should act in Church. He said, among other things, that applause was not appropriate and that quiet should be observed before and after Mass. Well, I guess I was the only one who listened or everybody did not care and ignored him cause after Mass it sounded like Grand Central Station.

 

[benedictgal]

The quote came from the Spirit of the Liturgy. Now, there will be some who say that now the Holy Father is subject to applause whenever he processes up the aisle at St. Peter’s for Mass. However, the applause in this case is a sign of respect. There are two occasions when there is no applause during the Papal Mass. The first one is on Holy Thursday and the second one is on Good Friday.

Now, going back to the OP, I, too, have found this to be problematic. Even though a host of liturgical abuses happened the weekend I lived my Cursillo, at least the crucifixes were distributed apart and away from the Mass.

Something interesting to note is that the GIRM states that:

D. THE CONCLUDING RITES

1. The concluding rites consist of

Brief announcements, if they are necessary;

The priest’s greeting and blessing, which on certain days and occasions is enriched and expressed in the prayer over the People or another more solemn formula;

The dismissal of the people by the deacon or the priest, so that each may go out to do good works, praising and blessing God;

The kissing of the altar by the priest and the deacon, followed by a profound bow to the altar by the priest, the deacon, and the other ministers.

It seems to me that this should have occurred after the post-Communion prayer since this was not a liturgical action. The only times that something should occur after the homily are the nuptial rite and the ceremonies associated with ordinations and other sacramental events.

Even extra-ordinary ceremonials like the blessing for the young lady on her 15th birthday have been transferred to after the post-Communion prayer.

Thus, if the USCCB made that allowance for the Quince Anos celebrations, thus, it should be applied, in my opinion, to these special events. But, that is just my line of reasoning.

 

[jc-servant]

Thank you for your concern. It appears that this type of activity does not concern you as my bold indicates above. I don’t believe “sucking it up” would be the solution here, it implies approval of the activity and things would just get worst. And no, I didn’t walk out on Jesus, I walked out on the Pastor. I also don’t believe that Jesus would approve of such in His house, remember the only time that Jesus got angry? I am not going to suck it up as it is wrong, I was hoping for suggestions as I might write to the Bishop.

Actually, I said “merely” because short of a major natural disaster, terrorists attacking or something of that scale, I’m not walking out on the liturgy for anyone. I stayed at mass when all of the power went out due to huge thunderstorms, but because there was no tornado I stayed.

I believe the appropriate action is to wait until the end of mass and then speak with the pastor, the bishop or anyone else needed to address the problem. Our outrage, no matter how justified does not excuse our Sunday obligation. You were supposed to be there for Jesus and not your pastor, so you walked out on Jesus instead of bearing what in reality was a pretty small cross on that particular Sunday. There are people to this day who risk their lives to be at mass due to the oppression in their countries. What does it say that you were given that incredible privilege and it was not worth sitting through some nonsense that could not have lasted more than 15 minutes or so?

If you only posted this thread to gain sympathy and pats on the back about how awful those people were to ruin your Sunday, then you should have said “only post if you agree with my actions and point of view.”

 

[TurboVW]

I don’t believe “sucking it up” would be the solution here, it implies approval of the activity and things would just get worst. And no, I didn’t walk out on Jesus, I walked out on the Pastor. I also don’t believe that Jesus would approve of such in His house, remember the only time that Jesus got angry? I am not going to suck it up as it is wrong, I was hoping for suggestions as I might write to the Bishop.

If we only knew what Jesus would actually do…oh,to have the wisdom of God. Alas, we’re only human…

And you may or may not be suprised at this, but this isn’t the first church this has happened to nor will it be the last.

My local parish LOVES to do this, from having 50 people get honorary St. Vincent DePaul society certificates after the Gospel because they put food in boxes on a Saturday, or the little grammar school kids doing something that brings in all their chatty gum-chewing parents with cameras.

You can look at it as a disruption, or you can say “At least they’re in church…”

At least it’s not Polka Mass. And the parish does that too.

 

[marchoi]

Thank you for your concern. It appears that this type of activity does not concern you as my bold indicates above. I don’t believe “sucking it up” would be the solution here, it implies approval of the activity and things would just get worst. And no, I didn’t walk out on Jesus, I walked out on the Pastor. I also don’t believe that Jesus would approve of such in His house, remember the only time that Jesus got angry? I am not going to suck it up as it is wrong, I was hoping for suggestions as I might write to the Bishop.

I do hope that you went to a different parish for Mass. As has been mentioned, you can’t simply walk out of Mass and declare, “Well, I tried to go to Mass, but there were these crazy people doing crazy things, so I’m done for the day. Oh well.” I think - for me - the only case in which I would walk out of church would be if it was clear that the Mass was invalid. Liturgical abuses happen. It’s a shame, I know. But it’s still Mass.